Walter Logeman: Journal
Just watched the last episode of season 4 of the Peaky Blinders. Loved it. I hear there will be a season 5, and the show is set up to deal with British politics in the 1920’s . Got me looking around and found this piece – a good bit of background reading.
The concept of medial understanding was the forerunner of what I call today co-conscious and co-unconscious states. Such a technique of reciprocal comprehension and “interpersonal memory” seemed to make possible astonishing matrimonial psychodramas, husband and wife reaching back into their first encounter and reliving, often with astonishing detail, all their moments of love and suffering, their silent tragedies and their moments of great decision
(Moreno, 1923).
Just how to produce such dramas remains somewhat obscure to me. Will experiment – and research!
The quote above is from this article by JL “Interpersonal Therapy and Co-Unconscious States, A Progress Report in Psychodramatic Theory” originally from: Group Psychotherapy, 14 (3-4), 234-241 (Sept-Dec., 1961) See PDF below.
Chapter from Psychodrama Since Moreno – Amazon
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Here is a quote from Moreno that has major implications for how we conduct psychodrama in groups or with individuals when they want to work on significant relationships and the other party is not present. Can we trust their representation?
Can a person in a couple relationship role reverse with their partner?
In a group can someone do a drama involving an intimate other who is not there?
These are questions I will be exploring in action with colleagues. in a workshop at the AANZPA conference in Brisbane in January.
Marriage and family therapy for instance, has to be so conducted that the “interpsyche” of the entire group is re-enacted so that all their tele-relations, their co-conscious and co-unconscious states are brought to life. Co-conscious and co-unconscious states are by definition such states which the partners have experienced and produced jointly and which can therefore be only jointly reproduced or re-enacted. A co-conscious or a co-unconscious state can not be the property of one individual only. It is always a common property and cannot be reproduced but by a combined effort. If a re-enactment of such co-conscious or co-unconscious state is desired or necessary, that re-enactment has to take place with the help of all partners involved in the episode. The logical method of such re-enactment a deux is psychodrama. However great a genius of perception one partner of the ensemble might have, he or she can not produce that episode alone because they have in common their co-conscious and co-unconscious states which are the matrix from which they drew their inspiration and knowledge.
Psychodrama Volume 1, 4th edition, page vii
In short…
Couple and family therapy has to be so conducted that the “interpsyche” of the entire group is re-enacted so that all their tele-relations, their co-conscious and co-unconscious states are brought to life. Thus the interpsyche involves states which the partners produced jointly and which can therefore be only jointly reproduced, by a combined effort. The logical method to re-enact an episode in the life of a couple is psychodrama. However great a genius of perception one partner may be, he or she can not produce that episode alone because they have in common their co-conscious and co-unconscious states which are the matrix from which they draw their inspiration and knowledge.
The logical method of such re-enactment a deux is psychodrama.
Later — Friday, 22 December, 2017
Just noticed this quote fro Marshall Rosenberg:
It may be most difficult to empathize with those we are closest to.
Moreno was not alone in noticing this phenomena
This is my summary of what Moreno means by the social atom. In psychotherapy that “atom” or pattern is the client. When two of these “patterns” connect in love, then a lifelong process can follow. Maybe it is true love at first sight? Unlikely, love is blind. One possibility is to move from blind love to deep mature connection. The other possibility is hell. A third is lifeless boredom.
Psychodrama is a form of therapy. Jacob Levi Moreno founded the the early forms of the philosophy and practice in Vienna early in the last century. On page one of his seminal book: “Who Shall Survive?” he wrote about a therapeutic procedure.
Clearly a therapeutic procedure that has as its objective the whole of humankind stands out as a special case of psychotherapy. Psychodrama is a special case…
Continue reading “What is Psychodrama?”
I’m delighted to have plans and dates for a bunch of psychodrama events next year. I hope you will find something of interest!
Fri, 13 – Sun, 15 April
Fri, 31 August – Sun, 2 September
Experience psychodrama for your personal development!
Download flyer and enrolment details
Writing Retreat Mt Lyford – for Psychodrama Trainees
Fri, 25 – Sun 27 May
Writing is an essential part of psychodrama training.
Download flyer Enrol: http://psychodrama.org.nz/citp-2018c
Working With Couples – Professional Development – Christchurch
Christchurch Fri, 6 – Sun, 8 July 2018
This workshop will enrich your work with couples. Also a good way to get started.
A post by Ellen Bader on the attachment debate.
A Debate worthy of study.
I’d say they are a dialectical pair.
Just announced a Psychodrama Weekend. I have conducted many psychodrama weekends and I’m pleased to have warmed up to something new for this one.